ROGERS LAKE AUTHORITY
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF May 10, 2017
A meeting of the Rogers Lake Authority (RLA) was convened at the Rogers Lake Clubhouse at 7:30 PM on May 10th. The following members were present: Dennis Overfield, Richard Smith, Robert Recor and Tom Mendelci was present by phone. Six local attendees were also present. The minutes were typed by Nicole Krol.
The meeting of the Rogers Lake Authority was called to order at 7:40pm by Dennis Overfield.
A motion to approve the minutes from April was made by Dick, Rob second. The vote was unanimously approved.
Lake Patrol
Dick picked up the boat and bought paint for the bottom of the boat. The letters on the boat may need to be replaced. Everything else looks to be in order and ready to go for the season. The board discussed different options for the communication from the boat. Dick would like to work with the local police officers to find out what sort of enforcements will be applied to lake offenders. Dick has the report tickets for situations that arise on the lake in the 2017 season.
Weeds
Dennis has been in touch with Solitude, specifically Colin Gosselin. He indicated the RLA may be present for the pretreatment survey. For insurance reasons, there cannot be any additional observers for the actual treatment of the lake. The pretreatment is scheduled for Thursday, May 25, 2017. Dennis would like to schedule a time for the RLA to survey the lake weeds before joining Solitude for their own survey, ideally Wednesday the 24th would work well, close to dark. June 6th is the scheduled date for the application of the herbicide, the application is dependent on weather. Colin from Solitude will send Dennis flyers to post, warning of the herbicide treatment in hopes it will keep people out of the lake during the day of the application. The board discussed different options for posting warning flyers and posters to advise people to stay out of the lake during the treatment time. Dick made a motion to have a RLA boat patrol and launch attendee the day of the chemical
application to advise swimmers and boaters, Rob second, the motion passed unanimously. Weed mat update: Tom Baehr has had some inquiries about the weed mats.
Budget
None
Old Business
The rowers are out on the lake on a regular basis.
Dennis attended the CT confederate of lakes conference and provided all with a summary of the conference which is below:
Summary of Connecticut Federation of Lakes Conference on April 29, 2017
The following is information gleaned from the Connecticut Federation of Lakes conference held at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven on Saturday, April 29, 2017.
- There are over 3,000 lakes, ponds and reservoirs in the state and 60% have invasive weeds.
- Fertilizers do not support Fanwort growth. They require an alkaline environment.
- Soil testing done in New Haven. Understaffed and haven’t gotten to Candlewood Lake sponsored event in March. Not any interest from public to testing in the fall.
- Dredging is only beneficial if the depth is nine feet or greater. Shallower dredging only provides better weed growth for invasive weeds and choke out native weeds.
- Dredging of 10 cubic feet or less does not require a permit.
- Weed mats work great when deployed in early April and removed before Memorial Day.
- Lowering of a lake in the winter months not beneficial. Candelwood Lake alternates draw downs 3 feet one year and 12 feet the next year. Because of the warm winters this has proven to not be beneficial and may have encouraged weeds to grow out to deeper depths.
- Many of the lake weeds do not go dormant in the winter. Two of the milfoil varieties fall in this category.
- Many invasive plants introduced by dumping of aquariums into lakes and ponds. Stores selling fish have been found selling invasive plants.
- Rogers Lake did not have algae blooms last year where most other lakes had a larger than normal problem. Our reduced algae blooms were most likely due to the herbicide treatment and possibly from the reduced runoff due to lack of rain. It will be interesting to see what this year brings due to the large amount of rain we have had.
- On cloudy days algae blooms come to the surface for more sun light.
- Algae blooms can be toxic, especially to animals.
- Chemical management is currently the most cost effective way of treating invasive weeds.
- Volunteer water quality monitoring of water sources to lakes has been very helpful in determining sources of nutrients to the lake. Northeast Aquatic Research has developed a kit and training on performing this monitoring. The kit is less than $1,000.
The board discussed letters received concerning the watershed study, Dennis found there is 4,819 of water shed acreage, 5.9% is urban, 1.3% is agricultural, 92.8% is wooded or wet.
New Business
Rob stated there are only a few signed up for the CPR course scheduled for May 13, 2017. Flyers have been posted around town.
Dennis has a Rogers Lake Authority News article for the Old Lyme events magazine posted below:
Rogers Lake Authority News - Old Lyme Events Summer of 2017
Every leap year Rogers Lake is to be lowered in the fall so that landowners can perform any maintenance at the waters edge. This did not happen in 2016 because of the drought. The hope is the lake can be lowered for this activity after Labor Day of this year. Monitor the Rogers Lake Authority website
for any updates.
The Rogers Lake Authority deploys a patrol boat on Rogers Lake for 30 hours a week during the summer months to promote safe activities on the lake. We are asking for your assistance in reporting unsafe activity occurring on Rogers Lake anytime of the year. To report any unsafe activities, please use the form that is available on the Rogers Lake Authority website
WANTED! Safe Boaters on Rogers Lake
6 MPH SPEED LIMIT
Before 10am and after sunset and within 100 feet of shore, rafts or other boats.
HORSEPOWER LIMIT
Maximum horsepower of 135 HP for boats and personal watercraft.
JET SKIS
Allowed 10am to 6pm weekdays and to 7pm weekends. Wakeless speed (6 mph) within 200 feet of shore, rafts of other boats.
TRAFFIC PATTERN
At speeds above 6 mph, go in a counterclockwise direction. Keep islands on your left when going North. Go one-way South on West side of Picnic Island.
Motion to adjourn was made by Rob and Dick second, motion passed by unanimous vote. The meeting ended at 8:50 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
The next meeting of the Rogers Lake Association will be on June 14th at 7:30PM at the Rogers Lake
West Shores Clubhouse:
Agenda for next Meeting:
• Budget
• Police Patrol
• Weeds
• Boat Launch
• New Business
• Old Business
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